by Sr Rose Rolling o.p.

Introduction Over the course of the last eight months we have journeyed through the Eight Evil Thoughts, those eight capital vices identified by the Desert Father Evagrius of Pontus that wound our fallen human nature and tempt us to sin. Tonight, we have arrived at the final – and most destructive – of the evil thoughts, which is pride.
Definition So what is pride exactly?  Pride can denote either a vice or a healthy ego state.  Let’s take the latter view first. Pride in this sense is what we may better term ‘self-respect’. It’s an unfortunate linguistic feature that our language uses the same word to mean two such opposite traits, since it can be a source of confusion or even outrage when Christians are heard to condemn pride and the meaning of the word is interpreted to mean self-respect or self-esteem.

By Sr Ann Cathereine Swailes o.p

We are coming close to the end of our series of talks on the Eight Evil Thoughts, and this is the second of these sessions I’ve been privileged to lead. In both cases, I jumped at the chance to tackle the particular evil thought in question, though for rather different reasons. Back in the Autumn, I spoke about sadness, and I was particularly keen to do so because that topic chimed with a lot of thinking I’d been doing in connection with my research as a (very) mature postgraduate student writing a thesis on the theology of suffering. Tonight’s theme was, by contrast, something I’m not sure I’ve ever thought very much about, and so I looked forward to the challenge, on the other side of finishing my studies, of getting to grips

Cecilia Boulding (Sister Mary Cecily) was born on July 7 th 1933 to Reginald and
Josephine Boulding, she was the fifth child of six and one of her brothers, Peter
became a secular priest and her youngest sister joined the Benedictines
becoming the renowned Dame Maria Boulding of Stanbrook Abbey.

Cecily’s father was a pioneer in the development of Radar for defence
purposes and received the OBE for this at the end of World War One and was
again involved in its development in World War Two.
Cecily was baptised when she was two days old and received her education at
the Ursuline Convent School in Wimbledon where the family lived.

by Sr Ann Catherine Swailes o.p.

Over the years, I’ve lost count of the people who have told me that Advent is their favourite season in the Church’s calendar – and I think I’d number myself among them. There are a host of reasons for loving these weeks leading up to Christmas. The readings we hear at Mass are beautiful –sometimes breathtakingly so, the music that accompanies them is often hauntingly lovely. Advent Sunday is, of course, the Church’s New